Time division protocol for an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio network having coordinating channel access to shared parallel data channels with separate reservation channel

Abstract

A novel protocol for an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio network that provides collision-free channel access with an emphasis on improving geographic reuse of the frequency spectrum. The protocol of the invention is executed on the reservation or control channel, and provides a method for allocating data transactions on the data channels. The system of the invention utilizes multiple parallel data channels that are coordinated by a single reservation channel. The transceiver of the system employs two modems to solve the channel reliability issues with multiple channel designs, where one is dedicated as a receive-only modem for gathering channel usage information on the reservation channel. High quality voice, video and data may be transmitted. The reservation channel implements a time division multiple access algorithm with dynamic slot allocation. In a distributed manner, nodes determine geographic reuse of slots based on channel quality extracted from the modem. Signal quality calculations are used to determine the likelihood of a slot reuse causing destructive interference within a node's neighborhood. Requests for slot usage are compared with the known traffic pattern and accepted or rejected by nodes within RF signal range based on the signal quality calculations.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. In an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system comprising a series of radio terminals, each said radio terminal comprising transceiver means for transmitting and receiving signals from other like terminals of said series of terminals, computer means, and memory means for storing program software means therein, said radio system based on time-dependent messaging having multiple parallel data channels and a control channel, the method comprising:
 (a) establishing a permanent link between a source terminal and a destination terminal or gateway; 
 (b) transmitting data from said source terminal to the destination; 
 (c) establishing a temporary link between said source terminal and said destination when the data being transmitted by said source terminal surpasses a predetermined limit for said permanent link. 
 
     
     
       2. The method according to  claim 1 , wherein said time-dependent messaging is made up of a series of time frames with each time frame having a plurality of time slots, said step (c) comprising utilizing at least three said time frames. 
     
     
       3. The method according to  claim 1 , wherein said permanent link comprises a plurality of said radio terminals, said method further comprising:
 (d) controlling the power of transmission of each said radio terminal of said permanent link; 
 (e) said step (d) comprising achieving a relatively stable state wherein each terminal of said plurality of terminals of said permanent link stabilizes at a power level reflective of the relative path loss between it and other terminals of said permanent link. 
 
     
     
       4. A method of reducing the energy consumption in an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system comprising a series of radio terminals, each said radio terminal comprising transceiver means for transmitting and receiving signals from other like terminals of said series of terminals, computer means, and memory means for storing program software means therein, said radio system based on time-dependent messaging having multiple parallel data channels and a control channel, the method comprising:
 (a) controlling the power of transmission of each said radio terminal of a service group of said terminals; and 
 (b) said step (a) comprising creating a relatively stable power-level state wherein each terminal of said plurality of terminals stabilizes at a power level reflective of the relative path loss between it and other terminals of said permanent link. 
 
     
     
       5. The method according to  claim 4 , wherein said step (b) comprises:
 (c) applying a power-perturbation to said service group of terminals to cause at least some of said terminals to adjust the power level to a lower value. 
 
     
     
       6. The method according to  claim 4 , wherein said time-dependent messaging is made up of a series of time flames with each time frame having a plurality of time slots, said step (c) comprising applying said perturbation in the same time frame on all said terminals of said service group. 
     
     
       7. The method according to  claim 4 , wherein said time-dependent messaging is made up of a series of time frames with each time frame having a plurality of time slots, said step (b) comprising utilizing at least three said time frames for achieving stabilized transmit power.